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With mixed martial arts continuing to gain mainstream popularity, local boxing promoter Keith Stoffer said he wouldn't mind if MMA disappeared.
"It's no secret that this movement has, especially on television, taken away from boxing," Stoffer said.
He may end up getting his wish, at least temporarily.
On Tuesday, state Rep. Robert J. Valihura Jr., R-Beau Tree, introduced legislation that would ban "combative fighting" in Delaware.
House Bill 501, which is being called the "Toughman Legislation," lumps MMA with Toughman competitions.
The bill defines Toughman events as elimination tournaments between amateur participants without any boxing experience or training.
The bill would ban both forms of fighting in Delaware. Promoters and fighters who violate the law would face class A misdemeanor charges.

These are interesting times for World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight contender Brock Larson.
Just under a year ago, he had his nine-fight winning streak broken by WEC champ Carlos Condit. Quickly rebounding with a win over Troy Allison to close out the year, Larson looked to make his case for a return match with Condit in 2008.
In something of a grudge match set up by disparaging comments made by John Alessio towards Larson’s legitimacy as a title contender, Larson came out on top when Alessio was flagged for an illegal knee strike, ending their bout. Shortly thereafter a scuffle broke out between the two and the war of words has continued to rage on from Alessio.

During an EliteXC event earlier this month, EliteXC lightweight champ KJ Noons and Nick Diaz won separate bouts. However, when they met in the cage after Noons' victory to hype an upcoming rematch, all hell broke loose.
This week as a guest on "Inside MMA," Noons ripped into Diaz, saying -- among other things -- that his rival doesn't deserve a rematch, that people are using the notion of Diaz's scar tissue an an excuse, and that his new nickname should be "The Artist" due to how badly he rearranged Diaz's face in their first fight in late 2007.

Couture: Well, I just walked out there to touch gloves and she just hit me. She wasn't interested in touching gloves and that first shot is what broke my jaw. My left hand wasn't even up to protect myself -- it was straight out to touch her glove. She took her shot, connected it and dropped me. That first shot is what broke it.

Quietly after his dominating win over Jens Pulver in front of 12,000 fans at Arco Arena in Sacramento, Urijah Faber soon found his name being mentioned in the Japanese press. It was no coincidence that K-1 was behind the name-dropping, as Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (their 145-pound MMA superstar) was claiming that he wanted to fight Faber soon.
Japanese promotions, especially K-1, tend to telegraph the messages they send through various media channels. The message here was loud and clear – we want to book the two best 145 pound fighters in the world against each other.

An injury forced Shonie Carter (Pictures) out of the upcoming Strikeforce card, but it could not keep "Mr. International" from speaking his mind about "Iron Ring," Kimbo Slice and his own intriguing tenure in MMA. TJ De Santis spoke with Carter in this exclusive interview.

DreamFighters.com: Mr. Trump, thanks for talking to me at DreamFighters.com
Donald Trump: You are welcome Adam..
DreamFighters.com: Its official, you are a partner of Affliction MMA - How do you feel about this partnership?
Donald Trump: I am very pleased to be partnering with Affliction. I believe together we are quickly becoming a force to reckon with in the arena of mixed martial arts.

n this edition of "Ask the Experts", Bas “El Guapo” Rutten discusses how he would do if he were to go up against Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko.
Here is the question that was chosen for Rutten:
Written by Jeremiah B
Bas, How do you think you would do against Fedor?

Zach Arnold drops the science about important lessons to be learned from companies failing to be successful:
1. Don’t bother promoting MMA shows if you plan on giving up your day job.
2. Promote your product on a local/regional scale and garner national exposure that way.
3. Work with big buildings and co-promote shows with them.
4. Do not paper shows. You’re wasting your time.
5. Don’t be one of the many idiots who thinks that you only have to use the Internet to promote your show.
6. Your internet presence would be more than just a slew of press releases.
7. Build a brand identity and keep it.
8. Big names cost big money.
9. Avoid expensive advertising markets when promoting shows.
10. No one is your real friend in the fight business.
The article explains each point in detail and if you are interested in how some facets of the MMA game work...you should read it.

"Tito has done a very good job creating a 'Brand' out of himself. He should get paid good money. He was important to the resurgence of the UFC. What that number is the real question. If the UFC is unwilling to pay what Tito wants then he should pursue some of promotion (like he is).
Ken and I were paid extremely well for what the market was available. It is not the same as it was then as to what is it is today. That would be like Babe Ruth complaining about what ball players get paid today.
The fight business is a tough one inside and outside of the ring. Most guys will not be able to sustain themselves by being a fighter. Sad, but the truth."

Although his performance against Robert Berry in March suggests otherwise, UFC hall-of-famer Ken Shamrock is convinced he has some fight left in him.
The 44-year-old Shamrock said he was walking away from MMA following his third loss in as many tries to Tito Ortiz in October 2006, but he came out of retirement in January by signing a multi-fight contract with EliteXC.
Had Shamrock beaten Berry at Cage Rage 25 in London three months ago, it's likely he, not James Thompson, would have received the call to fight Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson in the main event of EliteXC's CBS debut last month. Instead, Berry handled Shamrock with ease and knocked him out in the first round.
Despite the one-sided defeat, his fifth consecutive loss, Shamrock wants to hear the cage door close behind him once again.
"I'd like to get in there one more time and do a big one," Shamrock told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "It'll help promote my gym, promote my business and help other fighters on my elite fighting team get out there and make some big fights. That's why I want to do it again, and I want to go out the way I want to go out. ... This is it, this is my last fight and go do it."
While Shamrock is currently focused on expanding his Lion's Den brand of gyms – a new facility opened earlier this month in Scottsdale, Ariz. – he expects to resume training in the next couple of months with an eye on that final fight.
A bout against his adoptive brother, Frank, has long been rumored. Earlier this year, the younger Shamrock raised capital for the brother-versus-brother showdown with a date in early 2009 in the works.
"I'd love for that to happen," said the elder Shamrock. "It's no secret there's been a rivalry between me and my brother and it's been going on for years. He's the one who called me out, and I said 'OK, let's do it.' But, he never stepped up. Forget about the talk and forget about the hype on this thing. 'If you're going to do it, shut up and do it.'"
Despite what appeared to be progress earlier this year toward making the fight, Shamrock says he has not seen any action on the part of his brother to line up the match, which would still have enough novelty to generate a measure of fan interest.
In the meantime, Shamrock is a free agent. The contract he signed with EliteXC in January expired 30 days after his fight with Berry when the promotion declined to pick up additional bouts. His short-lived stay in EliteXC stings a bit more after Shamrock watched Slice's performance against Thompson.
"Now that I saw the fight, I'm very disappointed," he said. "I didn't do what I needed to do to get that fight off. The last fight in England, I should have won it. Things happen, and I didn't win it. They did what they thought was best. It would have been a good match-up, but I have no complaints. I didn't do what I needed to do to get there."
As for his assessment of Slice, Shamrock feels EliteXC rushed him into prime time and that the former street brawler is too still green to be considered the future of the sport.
"He needs time to grow," Shamrock said. "He can be a good fighter, I think he just needs another year or so to get sharper on the ground and get this cardio better. This isn't like fighting in the backyard. He's got the great look, the great attitude, but he's just not ready."
MMAjunkie.com will have more on Shamrock and the growth of his Lion's Den fighting team in an upcoming edition of Fight Biz feature.

Middleweight standout Ivan Salaverry (Pictures) has hung up his gloves for good and will no longer compete as a professional fighter. The decision came almost a month following his last bout -- a first-round submission loss to Rousimar Palhares (Pictures) at UFC 84 "Ill Will" in Las Vegas. Salaverry retires with a 12-7 career record.
"Basically, I am just not prioritizing fighting anymore," Salaverry told Sherdog.com. "Even though I love fighting and I had a great run and I enjoyed it, I've transitioned to other things. There are quite a few variables as to why I stepped away and not just one. I'm older now; I'm 37 and not 27. I also have some injuries that are just not recovering, too. And within that scope, I have my school and my two kids. Fighting is not just a priority anymore."
Salaverry's decision to step out of the spotlight shouldn't come as a surprise. His fight with Palhares was the last under his contract with Zuffa, parent company to the UFC, and the Seattle resident hinted beforehand that his performance against Palhares would greatly influence his next move.
Salaverry lost in surprising fashion to the highly touted Brazilian prospect via a deftly executed armbar, though the Chilean-born Canadian cites additional considerations that came into play with his decision to call it a day.

Anyone insistent that mixed martial arts has more in common with boxing than professional wrestling should learn their alphabet: UFC, IFL, WAMMA, etc.
Like the televised clown convention that is the WWE, the UFC has a stable of athletes unavailable for lending -- kind of like those musty reference books at the library.
That stands in sharp contrast to boxing's business model, which tends to acquiesce to fans' demands. Lennox Lewis was an HBO commodity. Mike Tyson was on Showtime's leash. Yet, the two networks understood that remaining contentious was just leaving money on the table.
With $106 million in the till, the Lewis-Tyson fight was the second most profitable pay-per-view of all time.
MMA's current problem is that no one -- fans, media or otherwise -- are demanding promoters to make important bouts before age and ring wear make them obsolete.
What follows is a list of fighters from disparate promotions that should swap leather before it's too late.

LEXINGTON, KY. -- It seemed that no sooner than the ink had dried on the American Fight League's contract with female MMA superstar Tara LaRosa (15-1) that rumors began to spread throughout the MMA community of a half-million-dollar price tag.
LaRosa told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) on Thursday that sum wasn't exactly true -- it could actually be worth more.
"I stand to make between 500,000 and 750,000 (dollars) depending on my performance and how I do with all of my fights," said LaRosa, now the sport's highest-paid female fighter.